Air sampler for downdraft equipment

Abstract

Implementations disclosed herein provide a compact and easy-to-maintain piece of downdraft equipment for use in facilities with limited floor space that includes a unique air sampler to ascertain the state of dirty air entering the downdraft equipment. The air sampler utilizes a removable portable air quality detector that can be moved to further locate the source of a contaminant when detected. The portable air quality detector may also be replaced when defective without disassembling the downdraft equipment.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A piece of downdraft equipment comprising: 
  a perforated surface;    a dirty air intake plenum;    an air sampler including: 
  a sampler intake with an input in the dirty air intake plenum; 
  a sample plenum with a sample port; and 
  a sampler fan, the sampler fan to draw a sample of the dirty air from the sampler intake and discharge the dirty air sample into the sample plenum; and 
  a filtration fan to draw dirty air from the perforated surface and through the dirty air intake plenum and exhaust filtered air out of the downdraft equipment. 
   
     
     
         2 . The piece of downdraft equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the air sampler further includes: 
  a portable air quality detector to removably connect to the sample port, the portable air quality detector to provide a quality metric of the dirty air.   
     
     
         3 . The piece of downdraft equipment of  claim 2 , wherein the quality metric includes a presence of one or more of: pathogens, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide (CO), poisonous compounds, explosives, or psychoactive drugs, referenced against a threshold. 
     
     
         4 . The piece of downdraft equipment of  claim 2 , further comprising: 
  a sampler housing including a removable access panel.   
     
     
         5 . The piece of downdraft equipment of  claim 4 , wherein the portable air quality detector is configured to rest on the removable access panel when closed. 
     
     
         6 . The piece of downdraft equipment of  claim 5 , further comprising: 
  an air sampler tray, wherein a bottom of the air sampler tray is defined by the removable access panel, and a rear of the air sampler tray is defined by the sample plenum.   
     
     
         7 . The piece of downdraft equipment of  claim 4 , wherein the sampler housing further includes a power supply to power one or both of the sampler fan and the portable air quality detector. 
     
     
         8 . The piece of downdraft equipment of  claim 4 , wherein the sampler fan is oriented within the sample plenum, further comprising: 
  a fan baffle oriented between the sampler fan and the sample port.   
     
     
         9 . The piece of downdraft equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the sampler fan maintains the sample plenum at a positive pressure. 
     
     
         10 . The piece of downdraft equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the sampler intake includes a multi-port intake manifold that extends across the dirty air intake plenum. 
     
     
         11 . The piece of downdraft equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the air sampler further includes: 
  an indicator light configured to communicate to a user that the sampler fan is running.   
     
     
         12 . The piece of downdraft equipment of  claim 1 , wherein the piece of downdraft equipment is a downdraft table, and wherein the perforated surface is a perforated work surface or a perforated rear wall of the downdraft table. 
     
     
         13 . A method of using an air sampler to provide a quality metric of dirty air entering a piece of downdraft equipment comprising: 
  drawing dirty air from one or both of a perforated work surface and a perforated rear wall of the downdraft equipment, through a dirty air intake plenum, and into a filter compartment using a filtration fan;    sampling dirty air flowing through the dirty air intake plenum at a sampler intake with an input in the dirty air intake plenum using a sampler fan;    discharging the sampled dirty air into a sample plenum with a sample port; and    removably connecting a portable air quality detector to the sample port; and    providing the quality metric of the dirty air using the portable air quality detector.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the quality metric includes a presence of one or more of: pathogens, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide (CO), poisonous compounds, explosives, or psychoactive drugs, referenced against a threshold. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the sampler fan maintains the sample plenum at a positive pressure. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the sampler intake includes a multi-port intake manifold that extends across a depth of the dirty air intake plenum. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising: 
  visually indicating to a user of the downdraft equipment that the sampler fan is running.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising: 
  filtering the dirty air within the filter compartment to produce clean air output from the filter compartment; and    exhausting the clean air out of the downdraft equipment.   
     
     
         19 . A downdraft table comprising: 
  a perforated work surface;    a perforated rear wall;    a dirty air intake plenum;    a filter compartment;    an air sampler including: 
  a sampler intake with an input in the dirty air intake plenum; 
  a sample plenum with a sample port; and 
  a sampler fan within the sample plenum, the sampler fan to draw a sample of the dirty air from the sampler intake and discharge the dirty air sample into the sample plenum; and 
  a filtration fan to draw dirty air from the perforated work surface and the perforated rear wall, through the dirty air intake plenum, and through the filter compartment, the filtration fan further to exhaust filtered air out of the downdraft table. 
   
     
     
         20 . The downdraft table of  claim 19 , wherein the air sampler further includes: 
  a portable air quality detector to removably connect to the sample port, the portable air quality detector to provide a quality metric of the dirty air.